Malaysia: Nomadic and semi-nomadic Penan communities intensify
campaign against Samling Group
Intense and continuing logging has taken
place in Sarawak for the last 30 years or so. More than 95% of
Sarawak's original forest cover has now been logged at least once.
The few remaining portions of unprotected primary forest in Sarawak
are in mountainous regions close to the border with Indonesia,
and these are now being hastily logged by the five leading logging
groups active in Sarawak and their myriad of subsidiaries and
associated contractors.
The forestry ministry of the State of
Sarawak speaks of sustainable harvesting of the forests on a 25
year cycle and allocation of vast tracts of land for palm and
cash crop cultivation. However, the net result is, as most biologists
agree, destruction of the delicate 100 million year old forest
ecosystem with the disappearance of the canopy. A secondary effect
now evident all over the country is an almost universal pollution
of fresh water rivers and streams with silt which has severely
impacted both the inland and marine fishing sectors.
No less critical is the plight of Sarawak's
forest indigenous people who rely on the forest for sustenance.
There remain 200 or so nomadic Penans and their future looks dire
in terms of their ability to continue in the manner they have
been accustomed to for hundreds of years. Many of the remaining
Penans are locked in a state of constant confrontation with the
logging industry and the local government for preservation of
their remaining forest lands. While numerous land-rights cases
are passing slowly through the legal system, the logging continues,
with the local people being no match for the well funded and connected
logging concession holders and their contractors.
The Samling Group holds 1.4 million
hectares in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. On the recent occasion
of its public listing at the Hong Kong stock exchange, 37 organizations
from 18 countries asked investors and banks to shun the company
for its failure to comply with basic environmental and social
standards.
Samling has already logged large areas
of primary tropical forests in the Upper Limbang river area, close
to the Batu Lawi, a mountain which the Penan consider to be holy.
Four nomadic and semi-nomadic Penan
communities living on the Limbang river in the North of the state
of Sarawak launched a joint appeal to the international public.
The communities of Long Nyakit, Long Peresek, Long Adang and Long
Keneng urge Credit Suisse, HSBC and Macquarie Securities, the
three banks who have sponsored Samling´s recent public listing,
to stop supporting the timber giant.
"Samling is destroying our last
remaining rainforest in the Upper Limbang", headman Awing
Tubai said on behalf of the Penan communities. "We need clean
water for drinking and fishing and intact forests where we can
gather our food and other forest products."
Article based on: “Rainforest communities
step up campaign against Samling”, Bruno Manser Fonds, www.bmf.ch;
“The Final Chapter for Sarawak's Primary Forests”,
www.ForestAlert.org,
http://forestalert.org/forest.php?lang=en&news_id=5
